In His House There are Many Mansions

The McCain campaign’s constant invocation of the candidate’s POW past is weird bordering on irrational: yesterday, Nicolle Wallace used it as evidence that McCain didn’t “cheat” at Saddleback. By a VERY generous interpretation, she could have meant that POWs don’t cheat. Or that once you’ve been a POW, you’ve been through so much you’re above cheating. Or maybe you can’t accuse a POW of cheating unless you’re a POW.

Today, spokesman Brian Rogers took the same tack against the “housing crisis” they currently face: “This is a guy who lived in one house for five and a half years — in prison.” So is he arguing that we shouldn’t begrudge McCain his multiple house because he once lived in an awful prison? Is he saying POWs deserve multiple houses (and you thought Obama was pro-nanny-state!)? Or maybe he’s saying that McCain’s several houses are really just prisons… of the soul. Man is entombed by his possessions, it’s true.

It’s a head-spinning non sequitur, designed to distract us from something mildly troubling with the assertion of something impressive. As if, say, the Obama campaign countered criticisms of his resume by pointing out that he’s black.